Farstead: Terrain

This is the list of Unique Terrain for my Farstead campaign. These are "naturally" occuring features such as vegetation, simple animals or geography. They are designed to be out of the ordinary or something easy to remember. These should be easy to add into any campaign setting, especially as most of these would be local occurances so it would make sense that only the local inhabitants would know about them. This helps to explain why they do not appear on any maps. Just be aware that some of these can potentially alter a setting and its economics.
Albino Trees
All the vegetation in this area is white; trees, leaves, grass, flowers, bushes, etc. The area is about 500’ square.

Blueberry Field
This 100’ area is full of blueberry bushes. The blueberries are exceptionally plump and tasty. During the course of a day many herbivores and insects visit the field. The field produces blueberries as long as it is the season, but picked blueberries replenish themselves overnight.

Cauldron Lake
This body of water is set within a ring or crater that encircles it. Cauldron Lake is very deep, but has a small island in it. The lake is above the nearby areas, including the lake to the north and east, and is known to have snow out of season as the crater is colder overall than the surrounding area.

Claw Marks
From a small distance away it appears as if there are long claw marks imbedded in the ground. There are 3 long, parallel cuts in the ground running 20’. It appears as if the ground was marked awhile ago.

Corpse Plants
This rather large (2’ diameter) plant grows low to the ground. It is a sickly red color and has white spots on it. However, its truly noticeable feature is that when it blooms it gives off a hideous smell similar to a corpse. This patch is about 20’ wide and the smell will be noticed before it is sighted.

Escarpment
While the area around this escarpment is barren, the escarpment rises 300’ above the rest of the area (and has a base of half a mile). It can plainly be seen there is vegetation at the top. Unfortunately there is no easy (but it is still possible) way up to the top.

Ether Field
There is a small gash in the earth here running 2’ long. During the day, anyone passing within 100’ of it must make a Fortitude Save or fall asleep. The effects wear off as things cool off during nightfall.

Flame Plant
These plants have cylindrical yellow/red buds about 3 inches in height. They are highly susceptible to heat and on particularly warm days they will burst into a flame that quickly burns out. It is possible to harvest them to add +2 damage to powers that have a fire effect. This field of Fire Plant can be harvested for up to 10 buds every 6 months.

Ghost Plants
A Ghost Plant does not feed from photosynthesis. Instead they get nourishment from decaying organic matter. A ghost plant is white due to a lack of chlorophyll. This area is 200’ square and the ghost plants are feeding off a mass graveyard below them.

Glowing Cave
Set into the side of a hill is this short cave (runs 100’ back). It is made of limestone and the stalactites and stalagmites often reach each other forming odd pillars. The limestone is a very light color and light can catch the top of the hill and the pillars will appear to glow as the light spreads down through the pillars.

Great Lion
This hill stands out from the forest around it. When viewed from the west it appears to resemble the head of a lion with a great mane.

Herb Garden
Here are 2 acres of herbs and other natural plant life. It is readily apparent it is overgrown with non-herbs and has not been tended properly in many years. However, after spending an hour here and making a Nature roll (DC20) successfully, enough herbs can be found to provide a 10% price reduction when making potions and elixirs. Further successful rolls do not further lower the price of the same potion preparation, but rather can be applied to a new batch of potion. It is evident that others come here for the herbs on occasion but infrequently.

Holes
This area is pockmarked with small gopher holes, over 100 of them, all roughly 2’ apart. If it could be investigated they all interconnect. Nothing lives here now and the area is dangerous to walk on, especially for horses and the like.

Hollow Tree
This large tree is hollow. A Perception check will allow the characters to find the hidden entrance. Inside it appears something used to live here, but has not for some time. There is enough room for 2 people to fit comfortably.

Hot Spring
A small hot spring lies here. It is slightly above a comfortable temperature, but if people like scalding, they will enjoy it.

Jumping Rocks
This relatively flat area (200’ square) is filled with small rocks and pebbles. As a person walks within the area it sets off vibrations that cause some of the rocks to jump up.

Light Snake
A large slab of stone (10’ x 20’) is set atop 10’ high pillars at the corners. Throughout the stone are various holes. Light shines down through the holes and onto the shadow below the stone. The light forms an outline of a snake, which moves throughout the day. Eyes of the snake also move. On bright moonlit nights the effect is similar.

Lone Tree
A lone cypress tree sits here. There is no other vegetation of any kind near it for at least 200’.

Mood Plants
This patch of fern-like plants change their color based off the mood of the being closest to it. Aggressive moods make it change to a somber or camouflage color. Non-aggressive colors cause it to color brightly. If someone were to cultivate this plant and be able to include its presence, it would add +2 to Insight checks where mood can reveal intent.

Paper Trees
Herein is a small copse of unique trees. The bark peels readily away and is thin enough to double as paper. Each tree will give up 10gp worth of paper sheets before the bark becomes too rigid, though it is possible to gather another 10gp worth of paper anyway. It takes an hour of manpower to carefully peel the paper off a tree. A Nature roll will reveal taking bark beyond the initial 10gp will strip away too much protective bark and the tree may become ill. There are 50 of these special trees here.

River Bed
An old river bed (running north and south) has been carved into the land here. It is readily apparent no water has coursed through the bed in a long time.

Rope Plant
This plant has a central bud with “leaves” growing out along the ground. These “leaves” are actually thick vines that spread outward. They can reach lengths of up to 20’. They are rather tough and actually make a good use as rope. However, once separated from the central bud they only last for about a month before they decay too much to any longer hold any strength. This patch is fairly large (200’ square) but can be hard to immediately see as it lies as undergrowth.

Salt
A wide expanse of salt, running about 15 square miles. At the edge of the expanse, a house is built completely from rock salt. The southern wall is partially melted.

Sand Waves
For a mile stretch there is a swathe of sand. As a person walks on the sand, the sand moves outward from the footfall similar to a rock being dropped in the water.

Shy Plants
This patch of plants only covers 10 square feet. These plants look fairly basic; thin green leaves coming off a green stalk. However, whenever a creature passes by they lean away from that being. As something approaches they lean away as far as possible, eventually lying flat on the ground. Nothing unusual happens however when they are touched. However, if a being remains near the Shy Plant long enough, roughly an extended rest, they will acclimate with the being and will no longer lean away from that individual (As such they could eventually be used as an early warning device).

Singing Rocks
This is a large jumble of boulders and rocks, about 100’ in diameter. If a rock is struck hard it will give off a musical note. If a rock/boulder is removed it loses its musical quality.
A squirrel might be setting off the music as it tries to open a nut by banging it against the rocks.

Stag Beetles
A mass of 3” stag beetles infests the camp of the characters. They are native to this area only. Their dung also provides a +1 Heal bonus. Usually there is enough dung per night for one dose.
The players may roll a Nature to notice something odd about the dung.

Stone Spikes
An area 100’ in diameter is barren except for stone spikes that rise out of the ground. They are of varying height, ranging from 1’ to 8’.

Watching Plants
These plants can grow up to 10’ in height. At the top of the stalk is a yellow bud surrounded by wide leafs. The bud will actually “look down” at passersby until they move at least 10’ away. This patch has 11 of these plants.

Willow Tree
This tree stands out from the rest due to its stature. The ground beneath it is exceptionally lush. On days when it rains the raindrops can be collected as they leave the lower branches of the tree. If carefully harvested there are enough raindrops to create two potions of healing per rainstorm.

Wind Funnels
In this barren landscape the wind kicks up mini tornados. These wind funnels are not forceful enough to actually be a danger; however they are peculiar in that they move toward large objects, such as the characters and their mounts. When they “strike” an object the wind funnels dissipate harmlessly.